1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus and a storage medium for generating a virtual environment which can be experienced by the operator.
2. Related Background Art
Techniques below are known to generate a virtual environment which can be experienced by the operator.
(1) A three-dimensional object or space is expressed by geometric model data such as polygon data or surface data, texture data representing surface characteristics or a pattern, light source data, and the like, and the appearance of a scene in an arbitrary direction is rendered using the computer graphics rendering technique, thereby expressing a three-dimensional object or space. With this technique, a virtual space is formed, and a virtual environment is generated and experienced.
(2) A number of image groups of a three-dimensional real object or a real space are photographed, and a target object or space is described on the basis of the image groups. The appearance of the target is recorded without reconstructing the shape information of the target (this method is called nongeometric modeling), thereby reproducing the appearance in an arbitrary direction. More specifically, a photographed image is converted into light space data, and an image viewed from an arbitrary direction is generated from the light space data and presented.
In prior art (1), the shape data of an object having a very complex shape can hardly be generated or reproduced. It is also hard to acquire shape data of an object having a complex shape from a real object using a three-dimensional measuring device. For this reason, the complex object can hardly be expressed. Particularly, it is more difficult to reproduce a real object having a certain complex shape or complex surface pattern/reflection characteristics (absorption/transmission characteristics). More exactly speaking, generally, a natural object can hardly be expressed although an artificial object can easily be expressed. However, a simple and artificial three-dimensional scene mainly constituted by planes, e.g., a room or a row of buildings can be relatively easily expressed using a relatively small quantity of data.
In prior art (2), once nongeometric model data is generated from a certain amount of photographed image data, an image observed from an arbitrary viewpoint (there are restriction conditions in fact) can be generated. However, to present images viewed from all positions of the three-dimensional scene, an enormous amount of light space data must be generated and held. For this reason, the entire virtual space can hardly be generated using this data. In addition, since the target is expressed without reconstructing the shape information, operations of arranging and translating/rotating of the object expressed by the data as an object having a three-dimensional spacial extent are limited.
Prior arts (1) and (2) are incompatible so the object expressed using nongeometric model data cannot be used in the virtual space generated by prior art (1). This is because although prior art (2) solves the problems of prior art (1), prior art (2) cannot be used to realize a virtual environment.
In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, there is provided an image processing method comprising:
the input step of inputting a virtual space using a geometric model for forming a virtual environment;
the acquisition step of acquiring nongeometric model object expression data based on a multi-viewpoint image;
the addition step of adding geometric information to the acquired nongeometric model object expression data;
the determination step of determining a relationship between the added geometric information and a coordinate system of the virtual space; and
the operation step of performing a predetermined operation for the nongeometric model object expression data in the virtual space on the basis of the determined relationship.
In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, there is also provided an image processing apparatus comprising:
input means for inputting a virtual space using a geometric model for forming a virtual environment;
acquisition means for acquiring nongeometric model object expression data based on a multi-viewpoint image;
addition means for adding geometric information to the acquired nongeometric model object expression data;
determination means for determining a relationship between the added geometric information and a coordinate system of the virtual space; and
operation means for performing a predetermined operation for the nongeometric model object expression data in the virtual space on the basis of the determined relationship.
In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium which stores a computer program for realizing an image processing method comprising:
the input step of inputting a virtual space using a geometric model for forming a virtual environment;
the acquisition step of acquiring nongeometric model object expression data based on a multi-viewpoint image;
the addition step of adding geometric information to the acquired nongeometric model object expression data;
the determination step of determining a relationship between the added geometric information and a coordinate system of the virtual space; and
the operation step of performing a predetermined operation for the nongeometric model object expression data in the virtual space on the basis of the determined relationship.